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(N0 Mariel.)

' H. M. UNDERWOOD.

IWI-NDMILL. No. 295,084. Patented Mar. 11, 1884.

N. PETERS. Pholbmmgnphcn Washington In. a

INITED ra'rns FFICE;

PATENT HENRY M. UNDERIVOOD, OF WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO JOHN F. POWELL AND R. J OHN DOUGLAS, OF SAME PLACE.

WlNDMl LL.

SPEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,084, dated March11, 1884.

Application filed May 28, 1883.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Hnnnv M. UNDER- WOOD, of aukegan, in the county ofLake and State of Illinois, have invented certain '5 Improvements inWind-lVheels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that ass of vertical windmills which aresustained on a rotary head or turn-table, in order hat they may to swinghorizontally to maintain a position facing the wind, and moreparticularly to that type of wheels which are arrangedin rear of theturn-table, facing forward toward the same, so as to be operated withoutthe employment of Iyanes for holding them in the wind. It has particularreference to that class of wheels in which motion is transmitted from agearwheel on the end of the horizontal wheelshaft to a correspondinggear on the upper end of a .vertical shaft.

The improvement relates to means whereby the resistance of the gear isprevented from causing the wheel to turn laterally in a position obliqueto the wind, or, as it is technically known, out of the wind.

In the operation of this class of mills the resistance offered by themachine or other de vice which is driven by the rotation of the verticalshaft and its gear has a tendency to cause the gear upon the whcel'shaftto revolve around the other, and thus swing the. wheel laterally orhorizontally into a position in which the wind will fail to act with thebest effect thereon. To remedy this difficulty,

looking devices have been heretofore devised for holding the n1ill-headagainst rotation in one direction, and combined with a small vane, bymeans of which the locking devices were caused to disengage when thewind shifted or 40 changed its direction. Difiicnlty has been, however,experienced in securing the release of these locking devices withcertainty in the event of the wind shifting suddenly and vio-.

lently to one side, so as to subject the locking 5 devices to excessivestrain. It is to avoid this difficulty, as well as to simplify themechanism, that the improvements are designed.

To this end they consist in a peculiar con.

struction and arrangement of the locking-dog and vane, to. theircombination with a special tally without disconnecting the gear.

(No model.)

weighted lever to be operated by hand, and to the combination of thisweighted lever with the ordinary weighted governing-lever by which thevanes of the wheel are held in an operative position.

It is preferred to apply the improvements to a mill of the classrepresented in the drawings, commonly known as a rosettewheeh but theymay be applied with equal facility to any and all wheels, whether of thesame or different construction, which are arranged to swing horizontallyto follow the course of the wind.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top planview of arosette-wheel provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of'the same.

Fig. 0 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of thelocking-dog and thewheel with which it engages.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the upper part of a tower orother stationary support designed to sustain the head or turntable B, inwhich the horizontal shaft (3 of the yer tical wind-wheel D has itsbearings. The turntable 13, which is of substantially the usual form, isconstructed with a horizontal arm, a, provided with bearings for theshaft, and with a vertical tubular journal, Z), the upper end of whichis seated in a cap or plate, cl, on the top of the tower, while thelower end is seated in a bearing-plate, d. This arrangement gives to theturn-table a firm support, but admits of its revolving horizontally, inorder that the face of the wheel may be opposed directly to the courseof the wind, as in other wheels of this class. It will be observed thatthe wheel is located behind or in rear of the turn-table, with its facetoward the same, so that the wheel is caused to maintain a positionfacing the wind without the employment of a vane. The inner end of thewheel-shaft C is provided with a beveled pinion, e, which engages with acorresponding pinion, f, on the upper endof a vertlcal shaft, 5 whichpasses centrally and loose 5 1y downward through bearings formed in theturn-table. This arrangement serves to trans mit motion from the wheelto the vertical shaf t and permit the turn-table to revolve horizonroeThe above features, being of substantially ordinary construction,constitute no part 'of my invention.

To prevent the resistance of the pinion f ",from causing the pinion e totravel around the same as it is revolved, and thus causing theturn-table to revolve horizontally and throw the wheel out of the wind,Iprovide thebearing-plate at the top of the tower with a series ofratchet-teeth, i, in its outer edge, as plainly represented in Figs. 1,2, and 3, and provide the turn-table with a vertical rock-shaft, 7c, thelower end of which is provided with a hooked dog, Z, to engage theratchet-teeth, which are faced in such direction that the engagement ofthe dog therewith will prevent the rotation of the turn-table in thedirection in which it is urgedfthrough the resistance of the gear, butwill permit the table to turn freely in the opposite direction. To theupper end of the shaft by which the locking-dog is carried I securerigidly a vane or blade, m, extended backward toward the wheel in adirection oblique to and away from the shaft of the wheel. The shaft ofthe dog is also provided at the upper end with a backwardly andoutwardly extending arm, 01, connected by a chain, 0, or equivalentdevice to a weighted lever, 19, mounted in a standard on the forwardside of the turn table. .The vane tends, through its connections, tohold the dog in engagement with the teeth of the stationary plate, andthus prevent the turntable andwheel from being carried by the pinion (Iout of the wind. The parts remain in this their normal position(represented in Fig. 1) as long as the wind continues to blow squarelyagainst the face of the wheel. WVhen the wind shifts toward thedirection indicated by the arrow numbered 2 in Fig. 1, the wheel willswing to the left without resistance on the part of the dog, which willpass freely over the ratchetteeth. If, however, thewind shifts in theopposite direction toward the courserepresented by the arrow numbered 3in Fig. 1, it will act upon the face of the vane m, and, overcoming theresistance of the weighted lever, will cause the dog to disengage,thereby permitting the wheel to swing in the direction of the arrownumbered 3 until the wheel can face the breeze, whereupon, as the bladeon at such time presents its face obliquely to the course of the wind,the dog will be caused to fall into engagement by the pressure of windupon the oblique face of the vane. In this manner, it will be perceived,the wheel is permitted to follow the varying course of the wind ineither direction, but is held securely against movement so long as thecourse of the wind remains unchanged. For the purpose of enabling theoperator to unlock the dog at will, the weighted lever 12 is extendedbackward over the center of the turn-table and provided with a cord orchain, 8', extending therefrom downward through the turn-table in suchmanner that it may be operated by the attendant below. By pullingdownward upon the cord, the rear end of the lever 19 is elevated andcaused, through the connecting-chain o,

to turn the shaft which carries the dog, and

thereby disengage the latter. \Vhen the blades of the wheel are furledor thrown out of the wind, as hereinafter more fully explained, theypresent an extended surface to the wind, which may blow laterallyagainst them, in consequence of which the dog may engage with greatfirmness upon the teeth; but by means of the cord or chain 8disengagement of the dog may be secured in such case by hand. In theevent of the failure of the vane on to effect the same, the cord orchain 8, which is fastened or secured at its end, will also serve as ameans for holding the dog permanently out of action when the same is notin use, if desired. To limit the swinging movement of the dog and vane,the rear end of the dog is extended backward beyond its pivot, asrepresented in Fig. 3, in such manner that when its forward end isdisengaged its rear end will bear against the ratchet-teeth or theadjacent surface of the -head, without, however, engaging therewith.

For the purpose of giving still better control of the wheel than wouldbe afforded by the abovedevices alone, I connect the weighted lever 9,which controls the locking-dog, with a second weighted lever, to, by achain, 1. This second lever-commonly known as the governing leverismounted, as usual in this class of mills, upon the forward portion ofthe turn-table, and is connected by a rod, e, and lever 10 with asliding collar, or, mounted on the wheel-shaft, which is in turn con-.nected, through intermediate arms,-y,with the feathering blades orsections 2 of the wheel, these sections being pivoted to the arms of thewheel by pivots lying at right angles to radial lines, in a mannercommon to what are known as rosette-wheels, and familiar to all personsskilled in the art. The rangement of the blades and connections is, asusual, such that as the speed of the wheel increases be-. yond thedesired limit the centrifugal action of the blades, combined with theaction of the wind thereon, will cause them to tip backward, (indicatedin dotted lines,) overcoming the resistance of the weighted lever u andpresent-' ing their ends or edges to the wind, whereby the action of thewind upon them is diminished and the speed of the wheel is broughtwithin proper limits. By connecting the governing-lever by the chainwith the dog-operating lever, the action of the cord 8 is caused in onemovement to disengage the dog, and also to effect in a positive mannerthe'furling of the sails. The connection, therefore, of the furlingdevices with the locking devices, so that both may be controlled byhand, permits the frame of the wheel to swing horizontally whenever itis thrown out of action by hand, but does not cause the dog to bereleased when the wheel is at work in a high wind, for although thelocking-lever 12 serves to operate the governing-lever a, thegoverning-lever has no effect upon the locking-lever and its connection.The connection of the governing-lever directly with the dog or itsoperating devices in such manner as'to control them would be fatal'tothe proper operation of the mill, for the reason that it would cause thewheel to be frequently unlocked at the time when the locking action wasmost needed.

vane, and the weighted leverp, connected th ere- Regarding thecombination of the locking devices and the devices controlling the speedof the wheel, the essence of the invention is in so arranging them thatwhile their automat-i0 actions are independent they may besimultaneously operated by hand, and while it is preferred to employdevices such as shown, it will be manifest to the skilled mechanic thatthe details may be modified in many respects without changing thegeneral action or the result.

I am aware that a pawl has been employed to look a millhead againstrotation in 'one direction, the only means for its disengagement being ahand-lever, so that constant attention on the part of the operator wasnecessary; and I am also aware that a dog connected with a vane by whichit is thrown both into and out of action has been arranged to look intosquare notches or teeth to hold a turn-table against rotation in eitherdirection, the result being a violent, noisy, and dangerous action ofthe parts in suddenly arresting the motion of the wheel and attendantparts 01? great weight. "I believe myself to be the first to operate adog which locks in one direction only with a vane to cause its action,and an independent lever to effect its disengagement by hand, and alsothe first to combine the locking and governing mechanisms with a manualdevice by which both are controlled at the same time. 1

Having thus described my invention, what I I claim is--- 1. A verticalwind-wheel and a turntable to sustain the same and permit it to swinghorizontally with the wind, in combination with a pawl-and-ratchetmechanism to lock the table against rotation in one direction, a vane tocause the engagement of the pawl, a weighted lever provided with manualdevices whereby it may be elevated, and connecting devices be-. tweensaid lever and the pawl for the purpose of disengaging the latter, saidconnections constructed as described, to remain inoperative when thelever is depressed.

2. In combination with the fixed toothed plate, the turntable having thewheel thereon, the vertical shaft provided with the dog and with.

3. In combination with the rosette-wheel and 1 its turntable,the-pawl-and-ratchet devices to lock the turn-table, the rock-shaftconnected to the pawl, the vane and arm attached to the rock-shaft, theweigh ted lever connected with said arm, and the cord or chain 3,connected with the lever.

42. In combination with the horizontallyturningturntable, the tootheddisk and the locking-dog having its forward end adapted to engage theteeth, and the rear end adapted to serve as a stop to limit itsmovement.

5. The vertical horizontally-swinging windwheel with feathering blades,combined with automatic mechanism, substantially as de scribed, togovern the position of the blades, automatic locking mechanism, combinedwith a'vane to control the swinging action of the wheel, and a manualdevice, 8, connected, substantially as described, with the governing andalso with the locking mechanism, whereby the operation of the manualdevice is caused to serve the double purpose of adjusting the blades toan inoperative position and of unlocking the wheel, that it may swingfreely in either direction.

6. A vertical wheel sustained by a turn-table and arranged to swinghorizontally to follow the course of the wind, in combination with anautomatic device to lock thehead against rotation in one direction, achain or equivalent manual device to disengage the locking device, anautomatic governing mechanism to control the speed of the wheel, and aconnection, substantially as described, between the locking andgoverning devices, whereby the two are permitted to operateindependently, but their simultaneous operation by hand permitted.

7. In combination with the vertical rosettewheel and its turntable, thewheel-governing collar 00, and the weighted lever 14, connectedtherewith, the pawl-and-ratchet mechanism to control the rotation of theturn-table in one direction, the vane m, and the opposing lever 1),weighted out of action, both connected with the pawl, the connection 25between the two levers, and the rod or chain 5, connected with lever 17,whereby, raising the upper lever by hand, the lower one may be raisedsimultaneously therewith.

8. In combination with the wheel and its turn-table, the stationarytoothed plate, the

.vane upon the turntable, and the pawl attached directly tothevane-shaft.

- 9. The combination, in a wind-wheel, of the device to lock theturn-table against rotation, the lever connected therewith and providedwith a manual device, the lever to govern the speed of the wheel, and aconnection between the two levers, whereby the governing devices arepermittedto operate independently of the locking devices, but the manualaction of the two simultaneously permitted.

, HENRY M. UNDERWOOD.

Vitnesses:

J. F. POWELL, PERRY L. SHAW.

